You Don't Know Me
by MikauKau
Summary: Reno was not always the way he is. Sure, his childhood was tougher than most, but he was a smart kid aiming high until one incident started a snowball of problems. Yaoi in later chapters.
1. Renardo

Disclaimer: I do not own Reno or anyone else that will turn up in this story or Final Fantasy VII.

Author Note: Keep in mind we all have our own interpretations of how Reno was brought up, or where he came from, and this is merely mine.

-Believe it or not, this isn't intended to be AU, it's just an entirely different take on Reno (or as far as I know). Later into the chapters it will inevitably end up being Rude/Reno. But for right now, just a confused kid.

-It's all written in Reno's point of view, so First person, for the most part. But Reno seems to cut himself off in the middle of himself talking from time to time. So just roll with it. XD

-Enjoy.. Or try to.

**  
Chapter 1. Renardo**

So lets face it; I'm not a very good kid, you know? I drink till I'm pissing on people, I smoke till I'm literally flying through the sky, I start more fights than I can count. I am just a fucking bad kid. Everyone says it, so it must be true.

"Reno, you stupid shit! What the hell are you doing?!"

"What the hell are you? A dumbass?"

"All you do is drink.. What good is a drunk Turk?"

Ha, the last one was Tseng. But these are a few phrases I've been hearing for the later part of my life. But you want to know something? You want to know something that I bet you would have never guessed about it?

I wasn't always like this. I didn't always drink… I wasn't a bad kid. I was a good kid. A great kid. Especially considering how full of shit my childhood was. I never really knew where I would end up from night to night. My father left the day I popped out of my mom, and my mother left the moment I was old enough to stand up on my own. Never saw them again. Don't want to either. But what really smashes my balls is how abrupt they left. Was I that bad?

I sort of found a way to make it on the streets though. There were a few community centers in the slums that I frequented. I learned to read by myself, write by myself…Hell, I was changing my own fucking diaper. I didn't need anybody.

When I was about 7 or 8 maybe, I enrolled myself into school. Yeah, that's right, a 8 year old enrolling himself into school. It was easy too. I just made up a signature for my mom and dad and turned it in. Damn school district was so stupid they didn't suspect a thing.

I woke up every morning, got myself dressed in the same clothes, and went to school. For lunch I just collected gil I found around the slums. Shit, you'd be surprised how much gil is just laying around. Literally, laying around. 5 or 10 just sitting in gutters, in the trash. Everywhere. Shows how fucking wasteful this world is. I'd set aside 2 or 3 gil a week so by the end of the month, I could buy some new pants or a shirt.

It was hard, but it was doable. There was no such things as giving up, especially since I knew there was so much more to life.

Bet you weren't' expecting that, huh? I am just some drunk dumb fuck sleeping around to make it. Bullshit. I never did that shit, not at that age. Hell no. I had my goal set high. I wanted to get out of the slums, I wanted to work for the most powerful company in Midgar… ShinRa.

Every time there was an essay, it was all I'd write about. I would write stories about meeting President ShinRa himself. I practiced what I'd say to him.

"Hello, Mr. President. I would be honored to work under your fine establishment."

Yeah, I was fucking 10 and thinking shit like that.

But of course, the teachers would say I couldn't. No kid around here can make it up top the plate. That just "don't happen." To which I said, "That just _doesn't _happen." Thus correcting their terrible grammar.

Now hold up, I know what you are thinking now, "You talk like a trashy whore, what the hell happened to you?" I choose to talk this way now. It's easier on my brain, you know? Less thinking required. But lets move on. Lets skip ahead when things started to go to shit…

All right, lets see. I think I was about 12. Though, to be honest, I don't even know how old I legally am now. I never had any records, and my mom never told me. So I am guessing I am 23..maybe 24 now. Maybe younger, maybe older, who the fuck knows? I sure don't.

Anyway, I was moving up in school pretty easy. All those classes they make you take: math, science, social studies, gym… All that shit was so easy that it was boring me shitless. I ended up spending my evenings helping other abandoned kids at the community centers with their homework… Most of them were older than me. But I was a whiz with that math and science stuff.

I remember one day in class, the teacher announced that I was being put into one of those AP classes. You know, Advance Placement. Right in the middle of class! I think that bitch didn't like me… She knew that the kids probably detested me enough because I was so much smarter than those dumbasses. But yeah, in the middle of class,

"Renardo," That's the name that my mother called me. I sort of hated it. I still do. "Renardo will be moving up into the Advance Placement courses because this class is too easy for him."

She said it just like that, the bitch. I could feel the class looking at me, all ready planning to chase me down after class. But I gathered my shit and left. Got out of there quick. And man, once I stepped into that new classroom, it was like a dream. New books, nice art on the wall. None of that stick figured with coloring outside the line shit that was in the other classes. Students all paying attention… equations on the blackboard.. Not easy shit 2 +2 = 5. It was nice, man. It was great. Finally somewhere where I can be accepted for this gift I guess I have.

The first two weeks were great. It turns out I pick up other languages pretty well. I was taking Wutainess. Wutai… I've never heard of it until I was put into the smart classes. I learned a lot of really cool shit. I wanted to visit that place someday.

In all honesty, I think there were some kids who thought I was sort of slow. But I ain't slow. I just can't know what I don't know. But once I learned it, I retained it. All of it. And I was ready to fire off my knowledge on that subject matter to anyone who asked it.

But there was just one bad day. Like really man, just one bad day.

It was raining. I could tell it was. I learned about rain in class. Since we are underneath the plate, we never get to really see the sky aside from a few cracks. But there was a gross greasy water dripping from the "sky". It was messing up my new white shirt I had bought to look nice for school. That sort of pissed me off, but I didn't think much of it.

When I got to school, I went to the bathroom first, you know, so I could try to clean up the bit of that oily grey water from my shirt.

There were a few other guys in there, smoking and shit. You know, whatever. Not my business. I always kept to myself. I guess you could say I was a quiet kid. But the moment they caught sight of me the verbal assault began.

"Heeey, you are that kid that was in our class. We just too dumb for you, huh?"

"We _are_.." I corrected.

"What?" The kid with the piercing in his nose was looking at me with those weird uneven teeth and a stupid ass expression on his face.

"'We _are_ just too dumb for you.' I was correcting you atrocious grammar." Hell yeah, that's me! Like I said, smart kid. But one type of "smarts" I never quite mastered was common fucking sense. Don't piss off bigger kids. Not when you are alone. And that's when I felt a hard punch in the back of my head. Oddly enough, I had never been hit before, never. I've been shoved, but I never thought much of it. I've had my toes stepped on, I've been cussed at, but tuned it out. But this guy just hit me. Hard.. .It hurt. Tears were all ready sort of forming in my eyes, and shit. I had never even cried either. It was weird. It was like reality finally caught up with me, and my body just didn't know what to do.

This problem couldn't be solved by taking a math test, or equation solving, or none of that school shit. It was instincts that took over. It took care of my poor shocked brain. I spun right around and decked that shit-head in the face. Hit him fucking hard before I felt something crack. That'd be his nose..blood everywhere. The two other guys then came at me, and I flailed like a fucking psycho. I went ape-shit… I went crazy.

Hah, bet they didn't think a 'smart kid' could fight. To be honest, at the time, I didn't know I could either.

I don't know what the hell happened after that. I sort of blacked out. And when I woke up, I was in the principles office. I had never been there. Never even seen the principle. I looked down and there was blood all over my new white shirt. The other 3 guys had swollen eyes, broken teeth… And the principle, big fat ugly bastard was leering at me.

"What's your name?"

"Renardo."

"Your last name. Don't be smart with me. This incident is going on your permanent record. And we need to call your parents."

And at that moment I had realized: Shit. I made it this far, and the damn school still didn't know about me. Where he came from, his mother, his father...the fact that he had no home. No nothing but himself.

"I… I don't have a last name."

"What do you mean you don't have a last name? What is your last name?"

He seemed pretty fucking angry. He probably thought I was trying to give him a hard time, when I really wasn't. I was officially one of 'them'. The bad kids. The ones who talk back and start fights and try to be a smart ass in front of authorities. But that wasn't me. I wanted to scream at him that this wasn't me. I am a good kid. I go to school everyday. I do all my homework. I was moved into the smart kid classes.

But that shit don't matter. None of it mattered anymore. I was just a bad kid without a last name.

"That's it.. I am calling your parents."

I was scared. I didn't know what to say. If I had told him I don't have any parents, he wouldn't have believed me anyway, you know? But what if he did. Would he kick me out of school?

I panicked. And again that instinct just blurt right out of me.

"Fuck you." As simple as that. Hell if I know why I said it. Maybe I just figured being sent to detention would be better than being kicked out of school. It bought me time. And when I said that, I stood up, spun around, and walked out of the office….

**  
End Chapter 1. Renardo**

Well there ya go. Comment if you like it. Don't if you don't. I'll post depending on whether or not anyone whats to read it. Thank you for taking the time to check it out~ 3


	2. Tutor Whore

**Chapter 2. Tutor Whore**

All right, so I fucked myself over, right? Like hardcore. But just as I had hoped, I got detention. Some serious detention. For a good month I think. But I couldn't have been more relieved. They stopped questioning me about my parents or where I live. They just gave me the detention and I had every intention on going to every single one.

The first day of detention was pretty scary. I remember every single kid in there looked like they were twice my age. Some even had facial hair. Others had piercing, tattoos.. Scary and ugly looking dudes. And here is me. Me and my fucking queer red hair, small frame, and school books walking in and sitting in the back corner. They were eying me. But I just tried my best to keep to myself.

The moment the teacher fell asleep at the front desk, those scary guys just started to migrate towards me slowly. One at a time, getting a bit closer until they were sitting right on top of me almost.

"…You that kid that broke that other kids nose?"

I didn't look up at him. I wasn't kidding when I said I was a quiet kid. Really quiet. Docile even. Shy… He repeated the question, and eventually those instincts took over. My instincts were telling me to respond. To have some balls and respond like you mean it, or these bastards are going to eat you alive. So I did… Oh shit did I ever.

"I would've broke more than that if the principle didn't break us up, yo." Yeah, I'm a cool kid now.

The guys started laughing.. But it wasn't at me. It was sort of like a "Dude, awesome." Sort of laugh. A laugh that was in some ways comforting and welcoming. Like I was one of them for a brief moment.

"You kicked all their asses good.." One said.

"And you so small too. I bet you steal a lot of shit too. You just pretend to be smart, huh?"

I almost instantly replied, "I don't pretend, I am." But I didn't. I didn't want to show that side. It was weak… I wanted to be accepted. But shit, why I cared what these dumbasses thought of me still sort of baffles me to this day. Why the fuck lie? It was then I realized that I was in a group. A group of guys who looked tough and likely were… Who stole, who drank, who fought… No one would fuck with these guys. I wanted to be accepted by them.

"Tch, when you pretend to be smart and shit, the teacher stay off your back, you know? It's all a façade."

"A..A what?" Shit, I used a smart kid word. I stumbled over words for a bit, but puffed up, shrugging it off like it didn't matter.

"A… façade. It's actually a bad word. So bad, only the teachers know it."

What did I tell you? Dumb-asses. They are the dumbasses, not me. At least mine dumb-assery was usually an act. But at that point, I was just acting. This was an act. I was thinking at the time that if I just talk shit and puff up, that they will think I am a lot cooler than I am. A lot deadlier.. A bad boy, you know what I'm saying? But my smarts told me that it was better to pretend to be one of the guys rather than flaunt my totally smart brain at them. They could kick my ass pretty bad.

"How old are you, kid?" I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I should tell them what age I thought I was, or how old they'd want me to be…

"I'm…Let's just say I am old enough to buy the good stuff, you know what I'm saying?" I hoped that they did, because I sure as hell didn't. The good stuff? People used that phrase a lot. Drugs.

They all sort of looked at each other for a moment before looking back down at me.

"You mean you can score us some shit?"

Well shit, I just dug myself in this hole. I didn't know where to buy shit. I didn't know where to do any stuff like that. But…Well… I came this far.

"…Y-Yeah. I do. But I ain't doin' that shit for free. You gotta pay up and I'll see what I can find you." Shit was I digging myself deep. But I just had to keep the act up. I had to make them think I was what I was going for: Cool, hip, with it, a bad boy… And these idiots were buying every word.

"You pretty cool, dude."

"You got a name, kid?

I hesitated. My sharp mind was putting all the pieces together. A cool kid wouldn't use his own name. Especially a name as gay as Renardo. So my mouth opened, and out came the name most of you know me by now.

"The names Reno." Yeah. Reno. That sounded pretty sweet. Reno.

"All right Reno. We will be seeing you around for sure, you know?" They laughed. They were implying something, but I wasn't sure what it meant at that time. Still young. Still learning.

So yeah. Didn't mean much to me then. Still don't mean shit now. It was my instincts taking over. Survive. That's what kept repeating in my head. Don't piss off the wrong people. Sort of like being sent to jail for stealing a pack of condoms. What are you going to do in the jail cell? Tell the other inmates you were sent here for protecting your dick, or that you shot a guy? Get why I said what I said?

Skipping ahead a bit because I damn well can, detention went on as usual. I still managed to get most of my homework done at the community centers. I couldn't do it during detention, or else the 'cool' kids would see me. But I was getting it done. In fact, I was excelling. And at the community center, someone suggested I should charge a small fee for helping some of the other people with their homework. And well shit, I did. Not anything fancy like I probably could have. Just 10 gil an hour. But I was saving up man. I was living life pretty nice… Or you know, as nice as I could. I had a small wardrobe that I kept in a backpack I bought. I even had two pairs a shoes at this point. Nice pencils for school work, shampoo to wash my hair.

Oh, funny thing about my hair. It's real. Hell if I know why it came out red though. I remember my mothers hair was brown…and my fathers hair was allegedly black. So, I guess black and brown makes red. No one at school really believed me though. They thought I was trying to be cool when I really wasn't. But after being put into detention for a month, I decided to go with the flow. I told them that I did dye my hair. I stole the dye. Did it myself.

Oh but right, I was bypassing the bullshit parts of the story because they are boring. So anyway, I was at one of the community centers waiting for my 5:00 o'clock appointment. That's right, I was on a schedule now. It made it easier to keep track of when I was teaching who what, you know? My teacher in my physics class was the one who set it up for me this time. Apparently, I was going to be teaching a senior. A fucking senior, dude! He was probably like 5 or 6 years older than me. So I figured of course, this was going to be some muscle-headed dumbass. I mean, come on. What kind of grown man practically, takes math lessons from a 13 year old?

Well, either way, gil is gil and I was sort of a whore in that sense. I'd teach anyone who paid me at that point.

So 5:00 rolls around, and sure enough some loser walks in. Thin, sort of nerdy looking actually. I had my pencil and paper ready, but would you believe it? The loser walks right by me. Naturally, I followed him over to the seat he chose and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Excuse me… Did you have an appointment with a tutor?"

He looked up at me through thick glasses before shaking his head 'no'. Well, I sort of felt like an idiot and went back over to my seat and sat down.

I tapped my pencil on the desk, doodling a few things on my scrap paper after a few minutes. 5:15, still nothing… What the hell, dude?

It was coming up around 5:20, and finally someone else came in. Big scary looking dude… Probably a drug dealer..or a bouncer. Something shady. That's what I was thinking at the time. Tall, solid, dark skinned… Heh, well, at the time I was 'straight', but at that moment when I saw that stallion walk through the door, I realized that sex existed.

"…U-Uh…Are you the high school student?" I sounded like a fucking boy going through puberty. Oh wait, I was.

The man just nodded. The fact that he was wearing dark sunglasses made it even more intimidating. I couldn't see his eyes. He was in a wife beater, black jeans. Tattoos on the topside of his arms that looked like it might have continued onto his back. Pierced ears… Man, at that time, I thought only women pierced their ears. And this man was no woman, that's for damn sure.

"All right…Well, the notes say you needed help in math." So yeah, when it said math, I just assumed like an ass that he meant multiplication…maybe even fractions. That man opened his mouth, voice deep solid, stern..no bullshittin' in it:

"Statistics."

"O…Oh. All right. Yeah, no problem." Man, my face likely turned red. Or, it was probably all ready red from just being a bit scared. But I felt like such a dick for thinking this guy was dumb. Statistics...thats some hard shit. But I grasped the basic concepts of it earlier that year. I had a 'knack for it' as my teacher would say. Maybe that's why he suggested me to teach this guy.

"So…I guess we should start from the beginning."

"…Yeah."

I was trying to ignore the obvious…or, what I thought was obvious. And it seemed like this guy was trying to pretend that he didn't notice that I noticed. He pulled up a chair and sat right next to me. But of course, this guy was too cool to sit in a chair like a normal person. He was sitting with his chest facing forward against the back of the chair, leaning on his arms that were on top of the back of the chair.

He looked over at me…or I thought he did. It was hard to tell if he was looking at me or just in my general direction because of those glasses. But I didn't feel I had a right to ask.

"…What?" He was speaking to me. I jumped.

"W-What?"

"You are looking at me weird."

"O-Oh. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." I felt like an idiot. I guess I was staring. Not as stealthy as I thought I was being. But I just laughed it off before finally getting down to business.

You likely figured out who that guy was by now. It was Rude. Big cuddly Rude having trouble in math. But still, a really smart guy. Smarter than he seems, sort of like me I guess. Maybe us slum kids ain't as stupid as most would think. Tseng was able to recognize that talent in us… Er, well, no that's not true. He recognized it in Rude. It took him a while to realize my unique since of intelligence. But that's a little further down the line of the story.

The first few lessons, I never asked his name. And he never told me his. He came two times a week for 2 months before he stopped coming. I was actually a little sad about that. Not so much for the gil I was no longer getting from him… But the estranged friendship. We rarely spoke outside of Statistics or math in general. But there were a few times where the conversation sort of veered away from math. It turns out that he wasn't a senior. He just started school sort of late. He was a junior. Meaning the next fall, I'd be in the same school as him. But of course, life wasn't going to be that kind. It still wasn't time for Rude and I to get to know each other. Because when I was finally accepted into high school, Rude was gone.

I remember that day. The first thing I did was ask the statistics teacher if he knew of anything about a large bald guy with glasses, and he said that he was gone. That's where I learned his name.

"Rude just up and left one day… He only had a few more months left before he would graduate." That's what the teacher said.

Now like I said, Rude and I weren't really friends yet. I just tutored him. But through his silence and dark shades, there was a pretty fucking smart guy who's biggest problem was Statistics. That's like if someone's biggest problem in life was making 500,000 gil a year rather than a straight million. This dude was smart! Why the fuck would he drop out when he was so close to graduating?

It wasn't my business, it really wasn't. But I had to know. I finally started asking some of the students rather than the teachers. And I got really mixed answers.

"He got a girl pregnant…skipped the slums, moved to the mountains."

"His parents finally got a job up top the plate and they moved."

"His gang turned on him and killed him."

It pretty much just got more and more ridiculous. But oddly enough, when I combined all of the bullshit reasons Rude was no longer there, it all sort of fit together and made sense. Rude was in some shady business. I knew he was in a gang, that much was obvious. But I didn't know how bad the gang was. I knew Rude wasn't a bad guy… He can't be, he was too smart to be. But shit, the next time I saw Rude was almost my last…


End file.
